Chapter 222 - 9: Secret Technique for Forging the First Spirit Ring

Chapter 222: Chapter 9: Secret Technique for Forging the First Spirit Ring

Mo Ning’s gaze fell upon the page. His pupils converted line after line of text into neural signals, which streamed into his brain.

The gears of his mind spun at high speed, deconstructing every paragraph and every formula with astonishing efficiency.

His profound understanding of the material, along with the inspiration it sparked, flowed through the Ink Tube Pen he controlled with a Trick. It materialized as neat characters of Secret Spirit Text, swiftly weaving together page after page of manuscript.

For every page he read, he "produced" three pages of manuscript—a sign of his profound absorption of the knowledge, as well as a "reprocessing" of that wisdom.

Flower’s invisible gaze hung in mid-air, silently admiring the brilliant sparks that flew as the young genius’s mind collided with the wisdom of his predecessors.

Some of the insights recorded in the manuscript were so novel that even she, a widely experienced Artificial Soul, found them eye-opening.

She couldn’t help but recall something her former master, Lord Martin, once said: "Reading a fool’s manuscript is torture, but reading an intelligent person’s is a delight."

She knew better than anyone that in Lord Martin’s eyes, the vast majority of people were fools. Most of the remainder were ordinary, and intelligent people made up only a tiny fraction.

And the young man before her was precisely the kind of intelligent person Lord Martin had described.

An hour and a half passed in tranquility.

When page 412 had been exposed under the Magic Energy Lamp for over ten minutes, the Ink Tube Pen finally ceased its dance.

He had finally finished reading *Starlight Resonance Secret Skill Research*.

Flower broke the prolonged silence. "Mr. Mo Ning, do you plan on customizing this Secret Technique?"

"Customization," as it was called, could be understood as a minor form of optimization.

When a Wizard created a Secret Technique, they would typically recruit a group of volunteers for experiments. Based on the results, they would then adjust the technique to suit the constitutions of most people.

The Starlight Secret Technique was no exception. Due to individual differences, its effects varied from one Cultivator to another.

This was precisely why the book’s introduction stated, "average Spiritual Strength increase of 0.35 points, with a record high of 0.46."

Customization, however, involved optimizing the Secret Technique for a specific individual, making it a better fit for them and thereby maximizing its effects.

Having observed every page of her new master’s manuscripts over the past few months, Flower had frequently seen phrases like, "This Divination Parameter can be fine-tuned," and, "There is room to optimize efficiency." She had long since guessed his intentions.

Mo Ning hummed in agreement and calmly stated his thoughts, "The record is an increase of only 0.46 points per year. That’s a little low. I hope to do better."

This wasn’t arrogance, nor was he looking down on anyone. It was simply a pursuit of excellence.

Spending several months just for an annual increase of less than 0.5 points was not the outcome he wanted.

"Oh," Flower said, her gentle tone laced with a hint of surprise. "That’s no easy task."

She could tell this wasn’t just about customization; it also involved a degree of optimization.

For a newcomer to plan on optimizing a First Level Wizard’s Secret Technique... the notion was simply astounding.

Mo Ning smiled faintly. "I gained a great deal of insight from improving the High Mountain Magic Breath Technique. That experience will be very helpful in optimizing the Starlight Secret Technique."

Even now, the final paper on this new Breathing Technique was still unfinished.

As he continued to learn more about Divination, new ideas constantly emerged. He had torn down and rebuilt the theoretical framework time and again, and it was now in its ninth iteration.

And this version of the Breathing Technique had truly become a "revolutionary" Secret Technique.

He glanced again at the illusory panel hovering before him, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

While he had been reading, the Eye of Truth had already derived a complete theoretical model of the Secret Technique.

The first hurdle in the optimization process had already been cleared.

With a thought, a line of text materialized directly above the model: Starlight Divination Model v1.0.

Hundreds of new Divination Parameters—his own physiological data—began to replace the original generic parameters one by one.

A torrent of data surged forth, and a notification flashed: [Deduction estimated to complete in 34 hours.]

This was a new function of the Eye of Truth, one that had appeared only recently as his power grew and his knowledge deepened.

Previously, its calculations and deductions had been like opening a blind box; no one ever knew when to expect a result.

Mo Ning silently formulated a clear plan in his mind:

’First, I’ll complete the personal customization of the Secret Technique within two days and handle the preliminary optimization within three.’

’Second, I’ll use the Starlight Secret Technique once every three days. After three uses, I estimate I can completely clear out the residual Spirituality in my Spiritual World. At the same time, my Spiritual Strength should increase by an estimated 0.06 points.’

’Factoring in the boost from my Meditation Technique, my total Spiritual Strength increase will be 0.08 points, bringing my overall value to 1.05.’

’Third, that value will be enough to support me in condensing my first Spirit Ring. Then, I’ll use another two days to finalize my promotion to Apprentice.’

’In total, these three steps will take fifteen days.’

These next fifteen days were the final countdown to his promotion to Apprentice.

As the strongest newcomer of his class, it was only natural that he would be the first to be promoted to Apprentice.

He had even used his ’cheat’ to observe Sitt’s condition. The Magic Power fluctuations emanating from the other boy’s body had yet to show any fundamental change.

He had also heard a rumor from Reina, the "resident gossip," that Sitt was playing it safe. He planned to raise his Spiritual Strength to 1.08 before attempting his promotion, which was estimated to be in about two months.

This was because Sitt’s skill in Divination was limited, so he had to rely on a high numerical value to forcibly condense his Spirit Ring.